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EP-4468287-B1 - AUTOMATIC ACTIVE NOISE REDUCTION (ANR) CONTROL TO IMPROVE USER INTERACTION

EP4468287B1EP 4468287 B1EP4468287 B1EP 4468287B1EP-4468287-B1

Inventors

  • MEIYAPPAN, SOMASUNDARAM
  • BLAGROVE, Nathan
  • TORRES, PEPIN
  • GANESHKUMAR, ALAGANANDAN

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20200608

Claims (14)

  1. A method (200;300) of controlling a wearable audio output device (110) having active noise reduction (ANR) capabilities, the method comprising: detecting (202;302) a speech signal from a user (150) wearing the wearable audio output device, wherein the ANR is set to an initial level; determining (204; 306) that the detected speech signal does not include a wake-up word (WUW) for triggering a virtual personal assistant or voice personal assistant (VPA); and, in response to determining that the speech signal does not include the wake-up word, automatically setting (206;312) the ANR to allow the user to hear sounds external to the wearable audio output device more audibly relative to the initial level.
  2. The method (200;300) of claim 1, wherein detecting the speech signal from the user wearing the wearable audio output device includes at least one of detecting that a sound signal including speech is emanating from a general direction of the user's mouth, detecting that the sound signal includes the speech using voice activity detection (VAD), detecting that the user's mouth is moving, or detecting an identity of the user based on the speech.
  3. The method (200;300) of claim 1, wherein the speech signal does not include voice commands for a virtual personal assistant or voice personal assistant (VPA).
  4. The method (200;300) of claim 1, wherein the speech signal does not include speech during a voice call unless the wearable audio output device is muted.
  5. The method (200;300) of claim 1, wherein the speech signal does not include singing or humming while music is being streamed to the wearable audio output device.
  6. The method (200;300) of claim 1, wherein automatically setting the ANR to allow the user to hear sounds external to the wearable audio output device more audibly relative to the initial level includes turning the ANR off.
  7. The method (200;300) of any one of the foregoing claims, further comprising: in response to detecting the speech signal, automatically setting the ANR to starting a timer; in response to detecting an additional speech signal from the user while the timer is running, extending or resetting the timer; and in response to the timer expiring, automatically setting to the ANR to the initial level.
  8. The method (200;300) of claim 1, further comprising, in response to detecting the speech signal, at least one of i) automatically lowering a volume of audio or music playing on the wearable audio output device or ii) automatically pausing or stopping the audio or music playing on the wearable audio output device.
  9. A wearable audio output device (110) comprising: at least one microphone (112) configured to detect sounds external to the wearable audio output device; active noise reduction, ANR, circuitry configured to attenuate the sounds external to the wearable audio output device; and at least one processor configured to detect (202;302) a speech signal from a user (150) wearing the wearable audio output device, wherein the ANR is set to an initial level, determine that the detected speech signal does not include a wake-up word (WUW) for triggering a virtual personal assistant or voice personal assistant (VPA); and, in response to determining that the speech signal does not include the wake-up word, automatically set (206;312) the ANR to allow the user to hear the sounds external to the wearable audio output device more audibly relative to the initial level.
  10. The wearable audio output device (110) of claim 9, wherein detecting the speech signal includes at least one of detecting that a sound signal including speech is emanating from a general direction of the user's mouth, detecting that the sound signal includes the speech using voice activity detection (VAD), detecting that the user's mouth is moving, or detecting an identity of the user based on the speech.
  11. The wearable audio output device (110) of claim 9, wherein the speech signal does not include at least one of voice commands for a virtual personal assistant or voice personal assistant (VPA), speech during a voice call unless the wearable audio output device is muted, or singing or humming while music is being streamed to the wearable audio output device.
  12. The wearable audio output device (110) of claim 9, wherein automatically setting the ANR to allow the user to hear sounds external to the wearable audio output device more audibly relative to the initial level includes turning the ANR off.
  13. The wearable audio output device (110) of any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein: in response to detecting the speech signal, automatically set the ANR to start a timer, in response to detecting an additional speech signal from the user while the timer is running, extend or reset the timer, and in response to the timer expiring, automatically set the ANR to the initial level.
  14. The wearable audio output device (110) of claim 9, wherein the at least one process is further configured to, in response to detecting the speech signal, at least one of i) automatically lower a volume of audio or music playing on the wearable audio output device or ii) automatically pause or stop the audio or music playing on the wearable audio output device.

Description

FIELD Aspects of the disclosure generally relate to controlling external noise in an audio output device, and more specifically to automatic Active Noise Reduction (ANR) control to improve user interaction with another subject. BACKGROUND Wearable audio output devices having noise cancelling capabilities have steadily increased in popularity. Modern headphones with ANR (sometimes referred to as active noise cancelling (ANC)) capabilities attenuate sounds external to the headphones to provide an immersive audio experience to the user. However, a user may want to selectively set a level of attenuation of external sounds to suit particular use cases. For instance, there may be certain situations when a user wearing the headphones with ANR turned on may want or need to set the ANR to a low level to increase situational awareness. On the other hand, there may be situations when the user may want the ANR set to a high level to attenuate external sounds. While most ANR audio devices allow the user to manually turn ANR on or turn off, or even manually set a level of the ANR, this does not provide an optimal user experience. Accordingly, methods for automatic selective ANR control as well as apparatuses and systems configured to implement these methods are desired. US2017/193978, US2006/0153394 and US2017/0318374 disclose prior art methods and systems. While those methods and systems may have means for detecting a speech signal from a user of a wearable device, they do not disclose or suggest determining that a detected speech signal does not include a wake-up word for triggering a virtual personal assistant, and, in response, automatically setting ANR to allow the user to hear sounds external to the wearable device more audibly relative to an initial level. SUMMARY The present invention relates to a method and a wearable audio output device according to the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments are set forth in dependent claims of the appended set of claims. All examples and features mentioned herein can be combined in any technically possible manner. The scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims. A first aspect of the present invention provides a method for controlling external noise in a wearable audio output device, according to claim 1. Further embodiments of the method are defined by the dependent claims 2 - 8. A second aspect of the present invention provides an audio output device for controlling external noise in the audio output device, according to claim 9. Further embodiments of the method are defined by the dependent claims 10 - 14. Two or more features described in this disclosure, including those described in this summary section, may be combined to form implementations not specifically described herein. The scope of the invention is defined b the appended claims. The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects and advantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates an example system in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced.FIG. 2 illustrates example operations performed by a wearable audio output device worn by a user for controlling external noise, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.FIG. 3 illustrates example operations for an automatic ANR control algorithm, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Wearable audio output devices with ANR capability (e.g., ANR headphones) help users enjoy high quality music and participate in productive voice calls by attenuating sounds including noise external to the audio output devices. However, ANR headphones acoustically isolate the user from the world making it difficult for the user to interact with other people in the vicinity of the user. Thus, when the user wearing the headphones with ANR turned on desires to speak with another person, the user either has to manually lower the level of ANR (e.g., by using a button on the headphones) or has to remove the headphones fully or partially from its regular listening position. This does not provide an optimal experience to the user. Additionally, removing the headphones from its listening position does not allow the user to listen to audio (e.g., music playback or a conference call) while simultaneously speaking to another person. Aspects of the present disclosure discuss techniques for automatically controlling an ANR level of a wearable audio output device (e.g., temporarily interrupt or lower the ANR level) to enable the user to speak with one or more other subjects (e.g., other people) in the vicinity of the user. Additionally, the discussed techniques allow the user to effectively interact with other people without having to remove the wearable audio output device from its regular listening position, such that the user can simultane